Cheetah Poop

[Updated June 2016]

We continue with Anne the serie of questions !

Where were you at this moment?

I was in Serengeti National Park [in Tanzania] working as a research assistant for the Serengeti Cheetah project. One of the aims of the project was to find out which male cheetahs fathered cubs. To do so we collected the poop of as many cheetahs as possible to get their DNA.

What drove you to this field ?

I’ve always loved animals, and being able to be in the wild and watch and puzzle over animal behavior is what attracted me to field biology.

Did #Fieldworkfail had any impact on your professional life ?

#fieldworkfail makes small talk with other biologists so much easier. Whenever a awkward pause threatens to emerge, I just ask them for their best #fieldworkfail story. Works especially well with senior scientists because they tend to have a lot of stories.